Tenzin in Bangalore

New Delhi, Nov. 13: Tibetan refugees in India are getting ready to play a cat-and-mouse game with intelligence agencies as they explore ways of dodging the security net to embarrass Chinese President Hu Jintao, who will reach India next Monday.

The spotlight is on Tibetan activist and writer Tenzin Tsundue, known for his daredevil show of protests when Chinese leaders tour India.

Tsundue has been asked by Indian officials not to leave Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, until Hu leaves India on November 23.

Tenzin, the general secretary of Friends of Tibet, burst on television screens last year by clambering up a tower of the Indian Institute of Science building in Bangalore and unfurling a ‘Free Tibet’ banner when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was attending a meeting inside.

Security forces had their first brush with Tenzin in 2002 when he scaled the scaffolding of Oberoi Towers in Mumbai to “greet” the then Chinese Premier, Zhu Rongji.

The formal order asking him not to leave Dharamsala was issued today by the superintendent of police in Kangra.

Condemning the order, Friends of Tibet said it was an attack on the freedom of all Tibetans. “It is a shame on the Government of India,” said the organisation, which will spearhead the campaign against Hu.

If Tenzin violates the order, he will face prosecution under the Foreigners Act of 1946 that can mean deportation.

“I was born in India and I am working for the human rights and freedom of my people. This is not about me. This is about the six million Tibetans who are suffering under Chinese rule and who are deprived of their voice to speak out,” he said.

The ministry of external affairs, as has been the practice before any high-profile visit from China, has asked security agencies to keep a strict vigil on Tibetan refugees.

But that has not deterred them from mounting an underground drive. A poster campaign has been launched and pamphlets are being prepared to be distributed during the visit.

Apart from Delhi, Hu will visit Mumbai and Agra. The security around the Chinese embassy has been tightened and there will be preventive arrests of the refugees on the eve of the visit.